How to Add Insulation to Your Home

Creating a well-insulated home gives you money-saving results right away because proper insulation makes your home much more energy efficient. Here’s how to insulate some key areas:

Attic insulation: If you have loose fill insulation, look to see whether the insulation in your attic has shifted. If some areas of your ceiling are bare, solve the problem by using a plastic lawn rake to gently move the insulation from high spots onto the bald areas.

Be sure to use a plastic rake; with electrical wires present in the attic, it wouldn’t be wise to use a metal rake.

If your insulation appears to be in good shape, but you still feel a chill, you may need to add more. Check with your local public utility or a local building inspector for advice on what to do.

Wall insulation: Adding insulation to a wall is a bit more difficult than adding it to an attic because the insulation resides between the interior and exterior wall coverings. To insulate a wall, you have to either remove the wall covering or create small penetrations and blow the insulation into the wall cavity.

It’s simply not cost-effective to remove a wall covering to insulate the wall cavity. Therefore, blown insulation is usually used to insulate the walls of a completed home.

Floor insulation: An insulated floor substantially reduces the loss of heat, helps to eliminate mildew- and rot-causing condensation, and generally helps to keep your toes warm when you go barefoot through the kitchen.

Periodically crawl beneath your home with a flashlight to check the condition of the floor insulation in your basement or sub-area. Floor insulation is normally held in place (between the floor joists) with netting or bailing wire attached from one joist-bottom to another. If the insulation netting sags, reattach or replace it.